keep in mind that dunlap has been a successful basketball coach at literally ever other location he's been and here he inherited the worst team in the league. you guys have zero patience. he's already improved the team AND got younger from last year. how are you mad at that? more wins, got younger, AND STILL a guaranteed top 5 pick. that was basically a checklist for the season.

and the thing guys like you don't understand is that we rebuilt at the best time possible. our young guys will be reaching their prime right when miami is aging out. and none of our young guys will get overpaid like they would prior because of the new cba (aimed to help franchises like ours).

not sure how you're mad at me....i'm the guy that actually likes our team and goes to the games and watches them. you must be the other guy.

Posted by: charlottean | Feb 25, 2013 10:57:11 AM

Charlottean - haters gonna hate.

People are too impatient to see the pieces falling into place.

Posted by: Carr | Feb 25, 2013 11:29:57 AM

Charlottean. Stop making so much sense. People just don't like that. These people are not impatient, they are just completely clueless. Freeing up cap space and adding draft picks was the only way to go with this team. They finally do he right thing and a couple of idiots kill them for it. Ridiculous. Then they beat up 19 and 20 year old players? even more ridiculous. Then beat up a coach who took over the worst team in NBA history. If you want to hammer this team and their plan, that is fine. But you might want to wait a couple of years.

Posted by: Rev | Feb 25, 2013 2:49:21 PM

patience mfers.

new official team slogan.

Posted by: charlottean | Feb 25, 2013 2:53:59 PM

Haha, way to go Charlottean. I just want to chime in on Kemba. He's the ONLY pg this team has drafted that has shown this kind of improvement in his second year. Felton and Augustin both plateaued, but yet some still criticize him and say he's not good.
Hang in there Kemba, Biz, MKG, and Taylor. You for our the core and have shown improvement. You're a great, young group of guys, that don't whine or complain despite the losses and fickle fans.

Posted by: D.W.G. | Feb 25, 2013 6:45:31 PM

Charlottean, you keep writing about the rebuilding plan from your own personal point of view, and you don't seem to notice that - based on Rod Higgins' statements - the management already tweaked the plans.

They will look into every possible way of improving the team: trades, signing of quality free agents (not just "end of the bench players in a mentoring capacity", as you wrote once), in addition, of course, to our upcoming Draft picks and developing our young players (which definitely may mean some of them, not all, because one or more may get traded). All of the above, ch., not just your much cherished plan: improving through Draft picks, and developing that young core.

IMO, your "pure youth movement" plan won't take us very far. You constantly overestimate the potential of our "young players core", as compared to what other NBA teams have. You also overestimated in past years the potential of such "rising stars" as Morrison, Ajinca, D.J. Augustin. You're still arguing even about Sean May, who kicked himself out of this league by his lack of self-discipline (his talent was never an issue), after this team gave him chance after chance to get his act (or, should I say his belly...) straight.

You also overestimate Mike Dunlap, and you're twisting the facts to match your prejudice.
Example: "here he inherited the worst team in the league", you say.
Formally he "inherited" the same team; but he certainly didn't inherit the same roster.
Last season's roster was good enough for NBDL, and no coach could've done better with it.
The management enhanced the roster before his season, because they got sick and tired of being such losers (and also, because losers don't sell many tickets). With the veterans added to the roster, with the growth of last year's young players, and with the good Draft picks (including 2nd overall) we had in 2012, this was expected to be a much improved team.

In your mind, we're doing fine, we're "on schedule". Take some time to check - if you don't remember these things - the sports writers' preview articles for this season, and more important, the Cats' management statements before this season (and also the fans' expectations, which you like to dismiss, though you're just one of the fans, regardless of how high you like to think of yourself, or of how often you post here): the common thread for the vast majority of all these was this expectation of real improvement. NOT a winning team, not a playoffs team, but certainly NOT the lowest team in NBA again.

You're happy with this 13-43 (.232) record; no surprise about your reaction, since this equates to a greater chance for the 1st pick overall in the upcoming Draft.

Let's remember that the Cats began the season with a 7-5 record. Everybody agrees this was overachieving. Mike Dunlap succeeded to instill a renewed enthusiasm in this team, and that led to those wins.

And how is the team doing, after the initial enthusiasm wore out, and also, after the other teams caught up with Dunlap's defensive schemes?
6-38, which is .136.
That's how the Cats perform now: as a .136 team. Nice improvement (from .106 last season), isn't it? I stated above the reasons that a more serious improvement had to be expected.

The only other NBA team which is below .300 this season is Orlando; that's a wreck of a rebuilding team, plagued by long term injuries (Al Harrington, Glen Davis, now Jameer Nelson too), plus suspension (Turkoglu). That's why, saying that the expectation of a record of about .300 (or a little better) for this season was too much, as you said, has NO credibility. There are 28 other teams who "achieve" this, including quite a number of other young, rebuilding and losing teams.

So, Dunlap overachieved with this team in the first 12 games stretch. Now, the team he coaches is steadily underachieving.
The Bobcats' team work is not good, at both ends of the floor. If you don't like to accept this, the numbers are there: this team is last in NBA in assists per game, and is constantly being hammered inside, as shown by the points in the paint allowed in every game. You're supposed to do better in this last regard when you use zone defense.

Conclusion: I support what appears to be the management "all of the above" plan for team improvement (as explained above), and I don't think Dunlap is the right head coach, if this team aims high - and it sure does.
It depends on what the management wants to do for next season (never on any fans' dreams...).
When they'll plan on going on a winning, playoffs bound, season, then they should bring in an experienced coach - whether that's next season, or the one after it. Until then, it makes no sense to change the coach.

we weren't 7-5 because of enthusiasm. we were 7-5 because we were playing injury depleted teams early in the season. we didn't beat anybody.

i don't know what everybody expected. i absolutely expected this season to go this way.

and no it's not all draft picks draft picks draft picks draft picks. but that's how you BUILD. we can't sign free agents without overpaying them. there's NO value in that. that's what failed us before. the idea is.....you draft well.......you develop even better. you supplement with key free agent role players. and either your young guys grow into studs or you group some assets together to make a godfather deal to someone else for their studs a la houston.

people keep clamoring over mediocre free agents. if we were talking about a james harden'esque move.....i'm all on board. but we're talking about 30 year olds who haven't done much but stat stuff on bad teams.

you point to how indiana never won less than 30 games while they were rebuilding. they didn't have half their payroll tied up in garbage. we're finally getting out of that. get me a rod higgins quote on that subject.

i'm not going to argue that this years roster isn't better. i never would. of course it's better pure talent wise, but it's younger in the core. he's playing the young guys more than silas did last year. and I would absolutely take maggette (who i hate) and diaw over haywood and gordon (who i both hate) any day. and you can't both argue that the roster is better this year but that i'm over inflating the talent and potential of the young guys. that's suuuuuper hypocritical.

we've gone 2 whole years without making an idiotic trade. that alone is a cause for celebration and props to jordan and cho for not having rod higgins pulling the trigger. it used to be a 2 or 3 time a year occurrence. higgins would have traded carroll for warrick and warrick with a 1st for brandon roy or villunueva.

and after morrison dominated vegas we're still going to argue about whether or not we effed up his career? like may, the talent was never the issue. the franchise that drafted them was. it no longer is. and your complaining more than ever.

how is the glass NOT half full. is kemba not making 3's, top 10 in steals, top 10 in pg scoring and pg PER. I'm the guy that used to argue repeatedly that kemba wasn't the guy........he's clearly the guy. his improvement alone earns dunlap an extension. are mkg and jeff taylor NOT having solid rookie seasons? is bismack not a top 10 shot blocker at the age of 20? and significantly improved both offensively and rebounding?

talk to me when we don't win 30+ games and don't make the playoffs the following year and every year for like 8 years after that.

PATIENCE MFERS.

Posted by: charlottean | Feb 26, 2013 5:48:08 PM

A few notes:

Rod Higgins is the one member of management who constantly makes him available to the media. The quote from him represented the current management position, not his personal opinion. Funny thing, it seems to me that you may be coming around too to the only sane approach ("all of the above") vs. "youth movement" ONLY.

You're talking about "payroll tied in garbage", sure you're unhappy about getting Gordon for Maggette (not that you would've liked keeping Maggette either) - and then you're congratulating Cho for the last two years of wise management. Is that so ?

We have three dead weight big contracts now. One of them was Larry Brown inspired (with MJ's blessing): Diop. Then, came the big contract - 40 mil/5yrs - given to Tyrus in the 2010 offseason. He didn't do anything to really earn it, this was splurging on a player because he "showed promise". Not only that's still a big load on the payroll, but it also had to do with the decision of not keeping Felton (because that would've led to luxury tax, after signing on Tyrus' contract). Bad, and here yes, you can mention Higgins and MJ, with equal responsibility.

And the third one: Maggette for Gordon, 10 mil on an expiring contract (this summer) for 25 mil/2 yrs. So brilliant, done in 2012 on Cho's watch !
I know, you like your favorite candy that came with it - the 1st round pick. But that one becomes available, most likely, only in 2015 (or, in 2014, if it's not top 8 - not THAT great). No way this justifies such dead weight added to the payroll.
Of course, the management didn't think of that dubious (because it's so well protected, and we shouldn't plan on getting, then developing, another highly picked 19 years old in 2015 - we need to be a playoffs team before that Draft) draft pick only, they really wanted a shooter/scorer who can help the team be competitive. Reminds me of the way of thinking behind past trades - only, it's on Cho's watch. Not every bad trade of the past is Higgins' fault. Not everything Cho touches turns to gold.

I already wrote that I'm impressed with Kemba's development this season. Mullens became a better rebounder, but he still counts mostly on his outside shot. I'd probably appreciate Mulley's game more if we had a strong post up center playing along with him. That's the management's main task now, to get us one (Draft, free agency, trade - whichever way).

No, I don't think our rookies progressed enough so far this season, and this has directly to do with the coaching. But, in the last games there were encouraging signs in this direction. Anyway, from now on to the end of the season, the results matter a lot less than developing the young players.
I'll wait and see; if by the end of the season the rookies' development continues with an upwards turn, I'll be glad to say it.
Biyombo is a good rebounder and shot blocker, but, doesn't have much offensive potential. I know, he's 20 years old, has little experience - but, look at the big discrepancy between what he's doing in his strong areas vs. his offense. We're talking about a role player who can be useful coming off the bench, not about the starting center of the future.

Cho liked him a lot, and used our 7th pick in 2011 on him. Well, athleticism, strength, length and great competitive attitude, all this is very nice, but, far from enough for using that high Draft pick on a completely unproven player. Cho redeemed himself somewhat with the good 2012 Draft but, again, not all his ideas are valid.

Posted by: Sandy | Feb 26, 2013 11:52:13 PM

1 the ben gordon deal was great. i liked it when we did it. i thought 13 million was steep for a 1st round pick, but we still have a ton of cap room next year and better for them to only have 13-20 million to spend than 33 million. there's a salary floor they have to meet now so we avoided having to spend all of it in 1 year which could have been disastrous. additionally, the risk/reward on that pick is great. it very well could be a top 5 pick if detroit is horrible next year and misses the playoffs the following year. I don't expect that. but it's an early 1st any way you look at it unless andre drummond turns into shaq overnight.

but a bad deal? no. great deal? not unless the pick pans out but it wasn't bad.

i have always always always always always maintained that nobody ever drafts every single player on their roster and wins a championship. that's never been said and will never be true. but every great team was built off of the draft one way or another. i've gone over this a million times. no great team was built by just free agency. not even miami. they never would have gone there had they not already drafted wade. boston drafted pierce and rondo and traded draft picks for garnett and allen.

lakers drafted magic. they essentially drafted kobe, if you want to be technical, they drafted divac and traded him for kobe. they drafted worthy. they drafted A TON of their role players. they didn't draft shaq. they didn't draft kareem. but they were built through the draft.

it is the only sure fire way to build talent in a small market. you draft young talent, coach them up and either keep em or trade em. once you have a great young talent, other talent will sign as free agents but not before.

I have always always always said this. why sign al jefferson? it would be one thing if you wanted him to play david west's role for indiana here. but i don't think we're there yet. i think we're a year or 2 away from that. but regardless....they guys like 28/29 and plateaued. he's peaked. we need guys that haven't. we have 6 of those guys on our roster right now. we are playing them up and getting them experience. they will learn how to win. the biggest thing we have is highly motivated guys.

walker, mkg, biyombo, taylor, mullens, henderson......they're all highly motivated. they're all gym rats. none of them have off the court issues. we're building something great here.

i don't buy biyombo having no offensive potential. i've seen wayyyy too much in the past month to believe that this 20 year old, won't be a force in the post by age 25. his hook shot is tooo pretty. his shot is mechanically sound in form. he's going to be good. his hands are getting better. his arms aren't getting any shorter and his hands aren't getting smaller. he will get bigger in bulk.

i've seen too much in the past month not to buy into him as an offensive player in the future. he's not there at all, but he's wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy ahead of where he was last year in skill level.